It comes as Victoria's struggling car industry adjusts to hundreds of job losses at Ford and its key supplier, CMI Industrial.

Duangjai Asawachintachit, deputy secretary-general of the Thai board, said she wanted car suppliers to take advantage of opportunities in Thailand.

"Wages are significantly lower than they are in Australia, the minimum wage is 300 baht a day, which is about nine Australian dollars for an eight-hour day. We hope that's our competitive advantage," she said.

"This is a very good opportunity for Australian companies, particularly with the market growth in Thailand."

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union says it's worried about the car industry's future here amid fierce competition from Asian countries that are an "uneven playing field" because of their supportive governments.

MHG, which has a plastics factory in Melton and a glass factory in Geelong, has set up digs in Thailand and will deliver its first orders to Ford within months.

Thailand is expected to make two million cars this calendar year across the 16 different car manufacturers in an industry that employs 500,000 people.

Victoria's car industry employs 30,000 workers but is under increasing pressure as the number of cars produced locally has dropped to about 210,000 a year.

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union assistant secretary Paul Difelice said Mr Siede had a conflict of interest.

"It's a bit rich that he's sitting on one board and then says as a private individual he's bringing this Thai delegation to look at the component industry," he said.

"These days, with the high Australian dollar and tariffs reduced to nothing, we're not on an even playing field. We've got a free-trade agreement with Thailand but it's all one way."

Mr Siede, director of ASEA, said he was promoting the Thai visit as part of a separate private consulting role and denied he had a conflict of interest.

"The reality is ASEA is trying to make Australian companies more competitive so they can win business in Thailand and grow their business," he said.

Mark Davis, a spokesman for Industry Minister Greg Combet, said the Thailand Board of Investment visit was not sponsored by ASEA.

He said the $20 million given to ASEA as part of the New Car Plan for a Greener Future was to provide specialist advice and mentoring to parts suppliers.

"The Plan is not about offshoring Australian capability and jobs," Mr Davis said.

"Under the Plan's $20 million Automotive Supply Chain Development Program, ASEA is funded to ... improve understanding of domestic and international markets, and assist the sector enhance its capabilities and better integrate into local and global supply chains."

The Victorian Employers' Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the cheap wages highlighted the problems facing manufacturers in Victoria.

"We're not wanting to ever lose these sort of jobs to offshore companies but it underlies how difficult it is for our manufacturers to compete," said workplace relations director Richard Clancy.

"You can look at the direct labour cost, that is one component, obviously there are other things that we will compete on like technology, quality control, access to markets, design and the expertise our industries have developed.

"It just highlights that across industry we've got to look at how we stay competitive and how we improve productivity because it is so stark the difference between labour costs."

A spokeswoman for Victorian Manufacturing Minister Richard Dalla-Riva said building stronger trade and investment ties with the emerging growth markets of Asia would be critical to Victoria's development.

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